Houses less than £25k in UK?

juanmanuelmarquez

Dear peeps,

My grandfather was into the real estate business, and he used to look at run down areas where there were cheap houses for 30-40k and would put these type of properties on rent for long term investment. Since I have inherited the knowledge, not the properties and would like to know if there are any cheap houses in UK, in rundown areas for less than 25k?

I was looking at such houses last year but since I didn't have much capital back then I didn't really take much notice, just a mere mooch to see what was on offer with the wide range of estate agents. I did acknowledge that such houses were obtainable in Burnley, Liverpool and South Wales for less than 20k. These were 1 or 2 bedroom terrace or ex state owned houses. (i don't want shared ownership) However, such houses are difficult to buy now, the same houses are fetching around 35-40k, and yet 12 months ago they were only 20k or less.

Can anyone shed some light on this? Which area would you recommend for such venture. Am I simply too late to emulate my grand pops?

Pixie5740

Does it have to be a house or could it be a flat? What sort of rental yield are you hoping to achieve? Why not use the £25k as the deposit to buy 1 or 2 "better" investment properties?

Scraping the bottom of the barrel is higher risk and quite often your rental income is at the mercy of current government policy.

G_M

I'd have thought any property with a rental potential would by definition be sought after by landlords.... so the price will be higher.

Anything that price is going to be in an area with no rental market and/or in a condition unsuitable for renting, as well as being unattractive to owner-occupiers.

juanmanuelmarquez

Hi,
Many thanks for your quick response. Yes a flat is an option depending upon the area and rent available. I'm keen on rental income of around the average of 10-15% yield but anything above that would be a bonus.

I would prefer a house, but hey I'm open minded. What would you suggest? Flat, or house and which area would be best? Can a flat be obtainable in my budget?

Pixie5740

There's this it's not for the faint hearted though. I know the area well and I wouldn't buy it even for an estimated return like that.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50891086.html

juanmanuelmarquez

Thanks. But are flats better than houses?

Would a freehold be better eventhough long term it would be on rent?

Hillbilly1

Surely part of the knowledge is which areas to buy in?

BIL did something similar around The NE a few years ago. Buy a property cash for £20k. Do it up. Mortgage it for new value of around £40k and rent out.

Of the 4 properties:-
- he sold one after buying as it was in an area where they didn't like BTLs and it was repeatedly vandalised
- at the last count only 1 is successfully let out. Only breaking even
- the other 2 have been taken over by drug dealers/squatters and no one wants to rent in the area

So the low cost is appealing but you do need to be in it for the long term and accept it might not rent out.

Innys1

Property under £25k is that cheap for a reason.

marksoton

juanmanuelmarquez wrote: »

Dear peeps,

My grandfather was into the real estate business, and he used to look at run down areas where there were cheap houses for 30-40k and would put these type of properties on rent for long term investment. Since I have inherited the knowledge, not the properties and would like to know if there are any cheap houses in UK, in rundown areas for less than 25k?

I was looking at such houses last year but since I didn't have much capital back then I didn't really take much notice, just a mere mooch to see what was on offer with the wide range of estate agents. I did acknowledge that such houses were obtainable in Burnley, Liverpool and South Wales for less than 20k. These were 1 or 2 bedroom terrace or ex state owned houses. (i don't want shared ownership) However, such houses are difficult to buy now, the same houses are fetching around 35-40k, and yet 12 months ago they were only 20k or less.

Can anyone shed some light on this? Which area would you recommend for such venture. Am I simply too late to emulate my grand pops?

Well clearly you haven't. Or you wouldn't be asking the question.

PasturesNew

These houses regularly come up for sale - often because the last "mug" couldn't make it work due to the quality of the tenants they attracted.

You'd have to pay cash as it's below mortgageable minimums.

I saw a programme on the telly where they went to look at the houses, tenants, agents, etc ...and one agent was outside a house that'd been wrecked/abandoned by a tenant and he said "They buy them because they're cheap ...but I know the people that move into them.... I'd not do it".

Running_Horse

You could widen your search with a time machine and travelling back to 1990. If I had £25,000 to invest, a slum in Burnley would be well down the list. Why not start a small business that provides an income?